The Shinobi Knight: the redemption of the Cursed Blades
by Astral-providence
Summary: A heavy AU. Naruto's life is changed the day he come across two sword from a long forgotten past. He will face both new enemes and old ones, and discover ancient secrets.


**Astral: hey guys here is my new story, it is a mix of arthurian legends, and many elements some created fully by me and other inspired by various materials. I hope you'll like it.  
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 **Prologue:**

 **Centuries of Regrets**

Naruto woke up, the blond began to stretch in his bed before eventually stand. it was a beautiful morning in Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves was calm today. Naruto went to take a shower and finish to prepare for his mission. Yes today Naruto was getting his first C-rank mission.

Yes a C-rank, not a lousy D-rank that is nothing but a chore that the senseis and Hokage try to disguise as a mission. The Civilians were just too lazy for some as they gave most of the work they don't want to do to shinobis. Naruto would complain, but well it still gave him some money...though there was one mission he would hate more than anything else in this world, one that was the bane of a genin's existence. Catching Tora the cat, the pet of the Daimyo's wife that keep running away.

All in all Naruto was more than happy to go on an escort mission for a change as it was really something that sounded more like the work of a shinobi. Once he had showered, dressed in his infamous orange jump suit and left his apartment after grabbing his backpack that he had carefully prepared the day before.

He arrived at the village's gate to see he was just on time but his sensei as usual was late. Kakashi had not taught him and Sakura much in the week he had been their sensei. Kakashi had given a few scroll to Sasuke but nothing to Naruto or Sakura saying that their basis were still not solid enough for him to teach them anything. The facts are that if Naruto train like a damned to get to Sasuke's level, Sakura does not seem to be doing much effort in that regard. Which also caused the blond to sometimes shook his head even if he is madly in love with her.

Naruto walked to his teammates who had already been here for already a quarter of hour, waiting for their sensei and Naruto who did not even noticed he was late.

"Hey there Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out,he received a punch over the head from Sakura.

"Naruto, you idiot! Stop calling me that! Beside you are late!" the pink haired girl shrieked

Sasuke winced in annoyance "Sakura he arrived before Kakashi sensei so it's not a problem" he said to which the pinket started to fawn over him as usual, it was like this everytime he opened his mouth to say anything to her.

Kakashi eventually arrived dragging Tazuna the bridge builder that they had to escort "Sorry but Tazuna wanted stop to buy some sake" he said rubbing the back of his neck. For once his excuse was believable so with no more delay the ninjas and the bridge builder left the village and went on their way toward Wave country.

On the way toward the coast to take boat to Wave country they were attacked by a duo of rogue ninjas from Kiri named the demon brothers. Kakashi faked his death during the battle to see how his genins would fair against Meizu and Gouzu. Naruto stood frozen by fear while Sasuke fought the rogues and Sakura stayed next to Tazuna to protect him which was more of an excuse since she was just as scared as Naruto was. Finally Kakashi decided to come out of hiding and finished the demon brothers knocking both of them out and tying them to a nearby tree. He then questioned Tazuna to know why C-rank criminals were after him.

Tazuna revealed that he lied because he could not afford for more than a C-rank mission, and that Wave was under the control of Gatou who was the head of a huge shipping corporations. He was building a bridge that could possibly allow the people of Wave to take back the control of their economy, and that is why he needed to be protected.

Naruto,Sasuke and Sakura all agreed to help Tazuna. Sakura did so only because Sasuke wanted to go on with the mission and Naruto wanted prove that he was not a coward unlike what Sasuke called him after the end of the fight with the demon brothers. Kakashi sighed as he saw that his genins were determined, Tazuna on other hand was overjoyed by the fact that he would still get protection even though he lied on the real dangers of the mission.

On the way toward the coast rain began to poor and the group ran to a nearby abandoned shrine to stay there till the rain stopped. Kakashi used a weak fire jutsu to lit the brazier at the center.

Sakura looked outside the shrine "Looks like we are stuck here for a moment" she said as she sat down with her teammates.

Kakashi nodded "Looks like it, this rain won't stop before long" he said as he began to dry his clothes.

Meanwhile Naruto was looking at the altar of the shrine on which there was two sword unlike any he had seen so far. One was was silver, its pommel and guards ornate with rubies, its grip was wrapped in an expansive looking red cloth and its blade was double edged with gorgeous lion carvings on its blade, the blade was truly a magnificent one fit for a king. The other one was less regal but definitely still beautiful in its own right. the metal it was made of was blue which was something surprising because it looked like the metal by itself was blue as if there was no paint, there was a small water drop shaped sapphire embedded in the guard . the grip was wrapped in black clothe and the double edged blade had strange carvings that looked like some very curvy letters of a language that the blond had never seen before. as soon as the blond reached for them, scabbards materialized around their blades, those scabbards had paper talisman all over them "Hey Tazuna-san, do you know what those sword are and why they are just left there like this?" he asked.

Tazuna immediately reacted when Naruto was about to take one of the blades "Leave them here! these are the cursed blades! All those who wielded them died in gruesome ways! that's why they have been sealed here by the priestess of the Land of Demons a long time ago never to be used again! believe me, it is better for you to not touch them!" he told the blond who nodded, even if he found it ridiculous.

Naruto nodded and walked away from the altar and sat next to his teammates "So what are we going to do Kakashi-sensei?" the blond asked.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck "Well I think we will stay here for the night" he said as he took his sleeping bag out of his backpack. The genins and Tazuna did the same and settled in for the night.

Naruto took sometime to fall asleep as he could still not stomach Sasuke's comment, being called a coward by his rival was just something he could not bear. Later in the middle of the night Naruto woke up hearing something, it sounded like someone was crying, a woman. he looked around but so no one, he tried to follow the sound and found it was coming from the altar. he looked at the sword to see that the red and silver one seemed to be the source of the sound. and not only this but there was water that flowed from the diamond shaped ruby on its guards, it looked as if the sword was truly crying.

"Th-the sword is cr-crying!" he said trying to not scream and wake up the others who would not believe him.

Then the most unexpected thing happened as the tears stopped to flow and the gem lit up with a soft red glow "Y-you can hear me?" the voice seemed to come from the sword.

Kakashi who was a light sleeper woke up hearing the raged breath of the nervous blond who was frozen in his stupor staring at the so called cursed blade.

Whatever Kakashi was going to ask died in his throat as he heard steps that were carefully approaching the shrine trying to not make a sound. "Sakura,Sasuke, Tazuna-san wake up!" he said taking out a kunai.

Both genin woke up, Sakura did not seem to get what was happening but Sasuke on other hand had already took a kunai from his pouch and was ready to fight.

Naruto reached for a kunai in his pouch but he was stopped in his move by the same voice "Master! I feel insulted that you would rather use this puny knife than me!" the feminine voice said in a scolding tone.

Naruto stared again in an incredulous way at the sword on the altar "did you just spoke?!" he shouted.

"Of course I can speak! I am not some common second rate sword!" the voice said indignantly.

"Clarent! Lower your tone! You can't disrespect our master in such way! After all he musn't be aware of what we are, the era of magic has ended a long time ago , and I don't think our past fame survived the passing of time either" the other voice was masculine and very deep, it also sounded wise carrying weight of centuries of existence.

"if you say so Arondight...anyway, the enemy is approaching so I suggest you unsheath us now master" said the voice now identified as Clarent.

Naruto nodded and grabbed both swords, as he did the talisman on them turned too ashes and their scabbards disappeared to reappear on a black leather belt that appeared on Naruto from seemingly nowhere.

"Naruto what are you doing?" Kakashi asked as he looked at the blond who now had the so called cursed blades.

"Hm not good...seems like the little master knows nothing of swordmanship" Clarent muttered as thugs who had katanas entered the shrine.

"Does not matter, we'll train him later. Master we will guide you so just let us do, don't try to resist" Arondight replied.

"Wh-what do you mean?!" Naruto asked now panicked as he felt he no longer controlled his body. He lunged at the three thugs who entered the shrine and swung Clarent who's blade shone bright red and cut through the low quality katanas that the thugs used.

"Pff! How can people use this kind of cheap toys" Clarent said with a chuckle as Naruto swung Arondight who's blade was coated in a soft blue aura that flowed along the blade like water. the blade send a wave of blue energy that sliced open the thugs' throats.

"Clarent don't be cocky, pride is the downfall of the mighty, you should know that much!" Arondight said as Naruto put both sword back into their respective scabbards.

"You are such a killjoy Arondight..." Clarent replied sounding really annoyed as the older sword began to lecture her.

Naruto on other hand was really confuse at what had just happened, those swords had just taken control of his body and done a short work out of those enemies, he had never seen anything like that. Both his teammates and Tazuna stared at him in awe "Th-the cursed blades! they obeyed him! He took them out of their scabbards!" he said

Naruto looked at him "What does this mean Tazuna-san?" he asked.

"Well the priestess who sealed the blades said that only their rightful master would be able to unseal them...guess they chose you" Tazuna explained remembering only a few things about the legend of the so called cursed blades.

Naruto was genuinely shocked "I protest! We did not chose you, the priestess' seals did! I surely would not have chose someone that has no swordmanship skill and is a commoner" Clarent said with a scoff "Oh well guess beggars can't be the choosers"

Arondight sighed "He may not be a king, but he has all the virtues of a knight...even if he was trained to be an assassin which is less than honorable" he said arguing once again with the silver sword.

Naruto was starting to get angry "Hey! I can here you metal scraps!" he shouted at the swords.

Arondight let out an indignant scoff "How rude!" he replied

Clarent laughed "Ah! at least he got some guts! I like that but...DON'T YOU EVER DARE TO CALL ME THAT AGAIN YOU DAMN BRAT!" she shouted in Naruto's mind.

the Kakashi,Sakura,Sasuke and Tazuna watched as Naruto bickered with his sword that they could not hear. Sakura finally decided to react and hit Naruto over the head.

"Ouch that hurt Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied as he held his aching head.

"Shut up idiot! and go back to sleep we don't need to hear you shouting your head off with some imaginary friend of yours!" the pink haired girl shrieked before going back to her sleeping bag after Kakashi disposed of the bodies.

Naruto sighed and went back to sleep, once asleep he felt as if he began to fall and found himself in a strange place. He was standing on the surface of a vast lake at the centre of which stood an island that could barely be distinguished through the thick mist. and the lake itself was surrounded by a vast forest unlike any Naruto had ever seen, he could not identify the trees as they were definitely not the same as Konoha's forest.

"Well looks like our master and us can finally discuss peacefully without anyone interfering" Naruto turned around to be faced with a rather tall woman. She had athletic and yet thin figure, her long silver hair reached down to the middle of her back, her eyes were blood red, her skin was one of the fairest Naruto had ever seen. she wore a silver armor and a long red cape lined with gold and with the head of a lion on the back. The woman definitely had a regal air and carried herself like some mighty monarch. Her voice was definitely Clarent's voice.

"Indeed Clarent" the second voice that Naruto identified as Arondight's belonged to a tall armoured man. The man's face could not be seen, only two glowing blue eyes could bee seen peering from inside the helmet. the armor that covered the man's entire body was protected by a heavy looking medieval armor made of the same blue metal as Arondight, the armor had black vines shaped patterns.

Naruto was even more confuse "If you ask yourself where we are, we are in a part of our minds that you share with us...master" Clarent explained.

"O-okay, so maybe I should present myself I guess. My name's Naruto Uzumaki, so the both of you are swords right?" the blond said with a goofy smile.

Arondight nodded "Indeed I am Arondight, the unfading light of the lake" he said

"And I am Clarent the Brilliant Royal Blade" Clarent said.

"We should also tell you about our history I think master...we are not called the cursed blades just because of the unworthy fools who died thinking they were invincible because they had us in their hands. We are called the cursed blades because we were stained with blood and dishonor" Arondight said bowing his head and radiating what felt like sadness and shame, while in Clarent's eyes there were anger and pain.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion "What do you mean stained by blood and dishonor?" he asked.

"I shall begin...I suppose" Arondight said "I was forged by an ancient spirit that most called the Lady of the Lake for the most honorable and valiant knights only. I was eventually given to one of the mightiest knights of his era. his name was Lancelot of the Lake. Alas while Lancelot was one of the most virtuous knights of the kingdom, he fell in love with his King's wife, Queen Guinevere. His passion for her eventually caused him to betray his King and slay some of his fellow knight forever staining my blade with his treachery and unjustly shed blood. I was then abandoned and later cast into the ocean as a blade of treachery and betrayal" Arondight's tale caused Naruto to have visions obviously coming from the sword's memory and not only there were images but also raw feelings. Sorrow,pain,regrets,shame and despair, all of these to Naruto felt a if they were his feelings, and yet he knew they weren't.

Then Naruto looked at Clarent "And what about you? what is your story?" he asked.

Clarent sighed heavily "I was created by the greatest magician to ever exist the Archmage of the Round table,Merlin. The King that Lancelot served,was named King Arthur. He was my master. I was his Sword of Peace, a symbol of his power and authority, meant only to bring justice...but his illegitimate son, Mordred...he stole me from the armory and with the help of Morgan le Fay, a terrible sorceress who used her dark magic on me...he...he used me to fight against my King and murder him. After this I was forever branded with the name of the Coward's Blade,me who was born to be the symbol of my King's power and that of his successors' after him I also was cast in the ocean after it was discovered that I was near indestructible" Naruto's mind was once again flooded with emotion that were not his. Anger,despair,shame, the alien feeling of being a prisoner in your own body and forced to do serve someone you despise with every fiber of your being.

Both swords had a heavy past, a past that was obviously tragic as both never had a choice, a weapon is never responsible for the crimes of the one who wield it. And yet Arondight and Clarent payed the full price for being wielded by traitors who eventually turned against their King, or turned their back on the virtues they once valued most.

"The priestess...she could hear us, and told us that one day we would find a worthy master who would clean our names of the shame they carry" Arondight said looking at Naruto "You are the one that the priestess' seals have chosen...I may not know where the path you have chosen will lead you to but, I swear to serve until the end" he knelt in front of the blond who nodded and then looked at Clarent.

She scoffed "You certainly don't have what it take to be a king...but..." the sentient sword smiled "I have to admit you certainly have guts and possibly the potential to achieve great things...So I'll serve you, little master"

Naruto smiled back "Thanks Arondight, Clarent, I'll make sure to make you both proud!" he said giving them a thumb up "With the both of you by my side I am one step closer to becoming Hokage"

Both sword chuckled at the kid's antics "You have a lot of progress to do before even thinking of being a leader, you don't even have enough energy to use us to our full potential without being exhausted" Clarent said laughing at the boy.

Naruto pouted at this "Clarent, that was not really nice" he replied.

"Well excuse me but you have a lot to learn! Especially about how you chose women...if I can call that pink banshee one...really a dwarf would be able to build his house on her forehead and her voice would make dragons scream for mercy!"Clarent told him.

"Hey shut up! You can't talk like that about Sakura chan!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"I speak however I want of this loudmouthed violent howler monkey" Clarent snapped with a smirk.

Arondight held both sides of his head as the two bickered, he felt the headache coming "ENOUGH!" he shouted with a booming voice that silenced them "You two will stop this foolishness at once! Clarent you are a royal sword and are thousands of years old you should know better than to act so childish! Naruto, a knight must keep control of himself no matter what the circumstances are!"

Both held their head low in shame "But it's her/him who started it..." they muttered under their breath.

Arondight sighed heavily "Oh Great Ancestors help me! They are worse than kids!" he said out of despair rubbing the back of his neck. Nothing was going to be easy it seemed "Oh well at least I won't be bored anymore.

 **end of the chapter**

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 **Astral:Hope you liked it, I will try to make it as interesting as possible, I will try to bring newer element into the story so it does not completely stick with the canon and become boring. I might add other legendary weapons (of all kinds not just swords and give them to other characters)  
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